Life Found A Way
by jurassicanamal
Summary: Alan and Billy meet in Montana in the summer of 1994. This is their story. Eventual M. Alan/Billy JP3.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Not beta'd. Please review, it'll motivate me to post quicker.

 **August, 1994 – Montana Badlands**

Montana summers were notoriously dry and hot. The weather was uncomfortable, but perfect for digging up million-year-old fossils. It made for long days and dirt that was pleasantly manageable.

There were only a few weeks left in the dig, and Dr. Alan Grant was actually looking forward to the end of the season. This year had been particularly hard on him. Ever since the events from the previous summer, the students have been too distracted on their interest in Jurassic Park to pay attention to anything else.

Despite his strict rules on not mentioning—and especially gossiping—about the Park, it seemed as though that's all the students ever talked about. It wasn't so bad when he wasn't around. At times he would enter a tent to everyone hushing each other, or hear his name being whispered while walking past a group lying down on the desert floor. He tried not to let it bother him, so long as they didn't speak to him, or Ellie, directly.

Ellie seemed to be having a harder time than him. He tried his best to be there for her, although lately, his girlfriend seemed to want to spend her time anywhere but with him. He couldn't really blame her; he barely wanted to be around dinosaurs himself. Currently she was out of state, working with some associates at an opening exhibit.

He tried not to let her absence bother him. The relief of not having to protect her from questioning students was a load off, but without her help, the work piled up.

This morning he had woken up early and noticed there was a steady rain starting. He shrugged and decided it would be a good time to catch up on some paperwork. Honestly, he was grateful for the break, and the cool air. He was sitting in a tent reading over some files with a cup of coffee when one of his graduate students poked his head in.

"Dr. Grant?" He called.

"Yes?" Alan replied without looking up from his work.

"A new student just pulled up. Says he wants to volunteer for the last couple of weeks. Just a freshman, I think. Do you mind?"

"Hmm," Alan sighed and stretched his neck. Another student poking around and asking questions about that god forsaken island, no doubt—whatever. They could use the help when it was time to pack up. "Fine, fine. Send him in."

Alan stood and went to refill his coffee, and listened as he heard the new student being told to come in. He sat back down as soon as the young man entered the tent.

"Good morning," Alan greeted and watched as the young man smiled nervously.

"Good morning," he replied politely, but with a shaky breath at the end.

"Listen, I don't usually accept visitors towards the end of the summer like this, but I lost a lot of students halfway through the season. We need the help. However, I also expect students to fill out the proper forms before showing up."

"I'll do whatever I can to help, but ah," the young man smiled anxiously and rubbed the back of his neck, "I did submit a request through your department. They said it might take a few weeks, but that was at the beginning of June."

Alan felt his face getting hot in embarrassment. He sheepishly turned towards a tall stack of papers on his desk, and new without looking that the kid was telling the truth.

"Well then," Alan stood up and walked around his desk, "Sorry for the delay. Thank you for taking the initiative and joining us."

He extended his hand and offered it to the other man.

"It's my pleasure, Dr. Grant." The young man shook his hand graciously. "I'm so excited to be here and thank you so much for not turning me away."

Alan could tell already that he liked this kid. He was polite and sincere, and he hadn't mentioned Jurassic Park once so far. If he was lucky, he could mold him into a great addition to their team. There was just the matter of finding something for him to work on today… Alan smirked and turned back to the young man.

"Actually, I have the perfect task for you to start with. With the weather today, most of the students spend their time working indoors anyway."

"Absolutely. I'll do anything. Name it and I'll be glad to help."

Alan nodded and grinned again when he turned away. This kid's enthusiasm was endearing.

"Okay," Alan began as he reached the corner of his tent. He grabbed another stack of paperwork and placed it next to the one on the corner of his desk. "Here. I need you to sort and file these documents. Anything signed from the University goes into that file cabinet." Alan pointed to the small cabinet that his coffee maker sat on. "Everything else goes into the larger one right here." Alan gestured to the cabinet behind his desk. "Think you can manage?"

The young man smiled brightly and gave Alan a thumbs up.

"Of course!" He replied with sheer optimism and went straight over to the piles and began sorting through them eagerly.

"Well then, I guess I'll be off. I need to make my rounds. Lunch is at 11 and get with Sandy for your tent assignment. Any questions?"

"Nope. I think I'm good. Thanks again for letting me stay."

Alan smiled and watched for a moment as the kid carefully sorted through the files. "It's no problem. I'll come and check on you in an hour." With that, Alan began to walk out the flap of his tent. He stopped just as he took as step out and turned his head around. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Oh, Billy Brennan," Billy answered cheerfully, and went straight back to his work.

"Welcome to Montana, Billy," Alan spoke quickly and exited the tent completely. He started towards the first stop in his round, thinking highly of the new student. ' _Billy_ ,' he thought, ' _I hope he sticks around for a while_.'


	2. Chapter 2

Well, the good news was that Billy was doing an excellent job helping out on the dig. Sure he was mostly doing lackey work, but he didn't expect much else. He hadn't even started school yet and was content just being in Montana, working along side Dr. Grant. This was literally a dream come true.

Dr. Grant seemed to have taken a particular shine to him, and he was thrilled. He would see him barking orders to the most experienced students and volunteers, only to go back to into the tent where Billy was working and offer to grab him a snack or a drink.

This did not help with Billy's inappropriate crush on him at all.

However, the bad news was that after being there for only three weeks; the dig was ready to pack up for the season.

Sure, he knew it was coming and he was excited to start college, but he was understandably nervous. What if, after tomorrow, he would never be able to work this close with Dr. Grant again? He scolded himself for joining the dig so early. His admissions advisor had told him that he should wait until he at least got his associates degree. Why wait though? He wanted to do this every summer until he got his PhD.

Billy was ambitious.

After a long day of packing up most of the fossils and equipment and sending it on their way, along with half of the crew, Billy was wiped. He was sitting in an old lawn chair, next to a dying fire. He was thinking about starting school and dreading the move into his dorm, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"How's it going, Billy?" Dr. Grant asked him quietly.

Billy felt himself blush immediately. He usually tried not to let Dr. Grant's presence affect him, but it was dark out, so it would hide face.

"It's going great, Dr. Grant. Just thinking about starting school next week."

"I'm sure you'll do great." Dr. Grant took his hand off Billy's shoulder and walked around him.

"Thanks. I'm really looking forward to all my classes. I'm just nervous about starting from scratch in a new place."

"Hey, if you need anything, my office is always open."

Billy looked up at Dr. Grant and smiled, "I really appreciate that. I hope you know I'll probably take you up on that offer."

Dr. Grant nodded his head and began to walk back in the direction he came. "Get some sleep, Billy," he said as he passed by him and continued without looking back.

Billy sat for another few minutes and composed himself. Why was Dr. Grant being so nice to him? Sure he was respectful, honest, and followed all of the rules without question, but it still seemed as though there was something different about the way he was treated. Or maybe he was just looking too much into it.

Sighing, he stood up and made sure the fire was almost out before walking to his tent. It didn't matter. He knew he was doomed the moment he decided to attend the University Dr. Grant was associated with. The man could do no wrong in his eyes.

* * *

As soon as his trailer door was shut behind him, Alan began unbuttoning his shirt. He needed to be quick about taking his shower and getting to bed. The earlier he woke up, the earlier he could go home and have a few days to himself before classes began. He wondered if Ellie was going to show up before then. She was supposed to be home two weeks ago, but she kept delaying her return.

Alan finished undressing and stepped into the shower, still thinking about Ellie. Usually thoughts of her brought a smile to his face, but now they only made him sad and uncomfortable. He felt as though she couldn't stand to be around him. Obviously she would deny this, saying that it was the work she was avoiding.

"I do miss her," Alan said to himself out loud. He wanted himself to hear it. Sometimes he felt as though she would have returned already if he would have been more assertive in asking her to come back.

Thinking about Ellie was beginning to ruin his otherwise good mood, so he purposely changed his thoughts as he was preparing for bed. He thought about the day and what they would need to finish cleaning up tomorrow.

Eventually his thoughts drifted to Billy and Alan smiled as he thought about the young man. He was so enthusiastic and helpful. Sometimes he would finish a task an older student had given him so quickly that he would end up following Alan around, looking for something to do. Alan thought it was extremely adorable. Billy was adorable in general.

Alan's smile grew as he thought about how all the new students were usually terrified of him, but not Billy. He surprised himself in allowing Billy to be around him as much as he did. He couldn't say no to him. The second Billy would walk up to him and almost pout about how he had nothing to do, and Alan would give in. Those brown eyes with those long eyelashes were his downfall. He wondered if Billy would have this affect on him in future…

"Whoa, whoa!" Alan gasped and sat up in bed. Why in the hell was he thinking about Billy pouting? Why was he thinking about Billy's eyes? He hadn't had a crush on another guy in years, and when he did, they were _his_ age.

"Okay," Alan told himself, "Stop this right now. You don't need to be thinking about a student like this."

Alan quickly reached for his bottle of prescription sleeping pills. He usually didn't take them when he wasn't experiencing nightmares, but he knew he wouldn't get sleep otherwise. After swallowing the medication with a drink of water, Alan lied back in his bed and attempted to get comfortable.

' _I need to stop thinking about Billy. This could be trouble.'_

That was the last thought he had before sleep finally welcomed him.

* * *

Billy woke up early the next morning and had a quick breakfast from what was left of the food. The remaining students were already tearing down the rest of the tents and Billy walked to join them.

"Where's Dr. Grant?" An older girl that Billy didn't know asked.

"I don't know," another student replied. Billy couldn't remember his name.

"If he's still in his trailer, he'll be grouchy when he comes out. That usually means he's overslept because of nightmares." This was Sandy. She seemed to know Dr. Grant a little better than the others.

The students didn't question her. They knew better than to be around Dr. Grant when he was upset and to _definitely_ not ask about nightmares. Billy wanted to further ask about their experiences with Dr. Grant's nightmares, but he knew the rules about gossiping.

About 20 minutes later, Dr. Grant finally walked out of his trailer, the fedora perched low on his head was successfully hiding his face. Billy watched intently as he walked over to half-torn-down tent that he used as his office.

"Nobody bother him if you know what's good for you," Sandy warned as she directed students in folding away the tents.

Billy stood there useless as everyone seemed to have the packing under control. Once everyone began heading in opposite directions, Billy cautiously walked towards Dr. Grant's tent and made sure no one was watching him before stepping inside.

"Morning, Dr. Grant," he greeted politely, as usual.

"Hey, Billy," Dr. Grant replied quietly and not looking up.

"Can I get you a coffee?"

"Uh, I guess. Just black, please."

"I know how you like it," Billy smirked and hurried out to grab the coffee. He chided himself for the mild flirting and hoped that Dr. Grant hadn't noticed.

By the time Billy returned to the tent, he noticed there was a car parked next to it, obviously not caring where because of the lack of equipment. He knew it wasn't Dr. Grant's car, but could only assume it was someone cleaning out the tent.

"Dr. Grant?" He called into the tent before he stepped inside, carefully holding the coffee.

His breath caught in his throat as he saw Dr. Grant holding a pretty blonde lady and ending a soft kiss.

"Oh, Billy, come on in," Dr. Grant mumbled, his face flushing red. "This is Dr. Sattler. Ellie, this is Billy. He's been helping out for a few weeks."

Dr. Grant stepped forward to take the coffee from Billy. Then Dr. Sattler moved around him, after he took his drink, and walked up to Billy herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Billy," she smiled warmly and offered her hand.

"Thank you, Dr. Sattler," Billy replied while accepting her hand. He couldn't help but smile at her. It's not like he had the right to be outwardly jealous anyway.

"Please, you can call me Ellie."

"Sure," Billy grinned and glanced at Dr. Grant who was studying him while drinking his coffee. Billy couldn't read his eyes, but felt as though Alan was trying to tell him something. "Well, uh, I better go help the other's…"

He didn't wait for a response as he left the tent.

What was Dr. Grant trying to tell him with that look? Billy wouldn't be completely surprised if he was aware of his crush. He was sure that being a professor, this wasn't the first time this has happened. That was ridiculous though. He was probably just thanking Billy for the coffee and apologizing for allowing him to walk into an awkward moment. Yeah, that had to have been it.

After that, Billy was glad to get back to work. He wouldn't be getting anymore of Dr. Grant's time to himself with Ellie around.

* * *

"Aw, he seemed nice," Ellie cooed as she carefully packed away Alan's files into boxes.

"Yeah, he's a good kid," Alan agreed while filling some boxes himself.

"I worry about you when I'm not around, but it seems as though you have a few people here that are willing to look after you." She was teasing, but Alan knew that she was honestly relieved.

"Yeah, it's nice to know that some people are still willing to be around me."

"Alan," Ellie sighed, "We talked about this. It's not you… it's," she waved her hand in the direction of the dig, "Those things out there."

"I know, Ellie. But they're literally rocks. You can't look at those out there and be afraid of them like we were on the island. It's not the same."

"Maybe to you they're not." Her voice was cracking and Alan felt horrible for pushing the subject.

"Jeez, I'm sorry. I know this has been hard for you, but it's been hard for me, too. I just wish you were around. You don't have to help on the dig. I just want you here."

"I know, Alan. I'm back now, though. Now we can go home and try to move past this summer. Hopefully next year will be easier for the both of us."

"Yeah, I hope so. This summer felt completely off without you."

"Alan, stop." She blushed and kissed him on the cheek.

Alan turned back around and focused on his task. Yeah, this year was definitely different than the others. Jurassic Park changed how he viewed dinosaurs, and it changed how his students viewed him. He had nightmares most nights and still ached from his injuries. Ellie didn't want to be around and he was left alone.

The only positive was Billy. For some reason this kid always fell back into his mind. Yes, he wanted Ellie to be around next summer. Of course he did. That didn't stop him from wanting Billy back as well. If Ellie chose to be absent for most of next summer again, he could at least hope that Billy would be there to take her place.


End file.
